A Second Childhood
by percyjacksonfan135
Summary: A rewrite of a oneshot called My Girlfriend Becomes my Daughter. Moody, destructive, chaotic and vilent; the children of Hecate often play pranks on the other campers at Camp Half Blood. But what happens when Lou Ellen, the counselor, goes a little too far? Why chaos of corse. Follow Percy and his friends as he struggles to take care of a deaged Annabeth while training all at once.
1. End of the War

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians and its characters. All characters and rights belong to Rick Riordin

A Second Childhood

The My Girlfriend Becomes My Daughter Rewrite

It was a week after the giant war and the Earth mother had fallen back asleep. My girlfriend, Annabeth Chase and I were at the campfire celebrating our victory and enjoying each other's company. There were a lot more cabins at Camp since I made the request that all of the Olympian gods should never forget their children. There was even a cabin for the Lord of the underworld, Hades if you can believe it. And believe it or not, there was also a cabin for the children of the Goddess of Magic, Hecate.

Now, for these particular children, I have only one rule. Do not mess with the children of Hecate unless you want your life to be completely miserable. Don't say I didn't warn you. The children of Hecate were usually very mild mannered, but if anyone annoyed them or did anything to upset them in any way, they were usually out for blood. Now as it so happened, my best friend, Grover Underwood, had the worst luck out of anyone I knew in the whole camp. He never meant to, but he always seemed to annoy the Hecate cabin counselor, Lou Ellen. Well, that's what she says, anyway. In my opinion, Lou Ellen was just a moody kid compared to the rest of us counselors. She was by far the youngest counselor; only being 15 years old, while the rest of us were 18 and over. So, because she was younger, Lou Ellen often got away with pranks and practical jokes more easily because it was hard to catch her in the act. However, it did not give her the excuse to target Grover for every little thing that annoyed her.

Wednesday evening was proof enough for me to talk to Chiron, our activities director, who was a centaur. He was a really nice and easy going person, but he was really strict when it came to following rules and respecting boundaries. So, when Grover came up to me and Annabeth at the campfire, I knew right away that something was bothering him. He was making nervous bleating sounds and his eyes were wide with fright. I looked down at my best friend and smiled as reassuringly as I could. "Grover, what's wrong?" I asked gently. "You don't have to be afraid." Grover did not want to say anything out loud, so he whispered in my ear about how the head counselor of the Hecate cabin was really angry with him and that he honestly had no idea why or what he even did to deserve it. Annabeth shot me a look of concern with a question in her eyes, but I returned her look to let her know that I would explain later.

It was much later when I even had an opportunity to speak to the old centaur. When he noticed my exasperated and concerned expression, Chiron smiled kindly at me. "I am already aware of the situation at hand, my child," he told me gently. "I know this must be extremely frustrating, especially because you are one of the camp leaders and you have to deal with this on a daily basis."

"I'm beyond frustrated, Chiron," I told him ruefully. "Quite frankly, I really don't think that Lou Ellen should be the cabin counselor for the Hecate cabin. She is far too young and she gets way too cranky about things that she can't even control. It's not Grover's fault that he trips and falls every once in a while. I hate to say it, Chiron, but everyone is starting to become afraid of her and I have no idea what to do about it. I have had to rescue many of the little kids from her clutches, and believe me; it wasn't pretty."

Chiron smiled gently at me. "I believe you, child," he answered. "I will have a meeting with the rest of the Olympians sometime this week. Hopefully they will decide on a suitable punishment for Lou Ellen. But Percy, you need to remember that she is only 15 and she doesn't have much experience with being a cabin leader."

I rolled my eyes and replied, "I know that, but she is getting ridiculous. It's getting to the point where you can't even sneeze without her screaming at you. I'm sorry, but that kid needs help!" So after promising to do all he could, Chiron gently ushered me out of his office so that he could make his iris messages in peace.

As that was going on, Lou Ellen was carefully plotting out her next prank while Annabeth was blissfully unaware of the strangeness around her. She had no idea that the prank that the head counselor of the Hecate cabin was going to go drastically wrong, or that she would be stuck in the middle of it. And me, well, I tried my very best to keep my eyes open for any unusual activity and protect Grover from more of Lou Ellen's mood swings.

Author's note: I'm sorry that there is no action just yet, but there will be, I promise. For those of you who do not know, this is a rewrite of a one shot that I had up on fan fiction a few months ago. Back then, it was called, my girlfriend becomes my daughter. It is now renamed, a second childhood. So, I hope you enjoy it and let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.


	2. You Can't be Serious!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Chapter 2:

You Can't Be Serious!

Three whole days have gone by and there was still no improvement in Lou Ellen's behavior. If anything, it had gotten much worse. All of the five and six-year-olds were terrified of her and I for one, did not blame them. Annabeth and I did everything we could to keep the smaller children safe, but it was harder than it looked. No matter what the 18-year-old daughter of Athena and I did, Lou Ellen would always use her tricks to find them. But one day, she went too far.

It was early June so all of the summer campers were coming back to Camp Half Blood for another summer of survival training. What none of them were aware of was that they would have to learn how to survive more than just the obstacle courses and lava wall. They would also have to learn how to deal with the Hecate cabin counselor's increasingly moody and chaotic temper. Why her other siblings were not stopping her, I had no idea; but one thing was for sure. Someone was bound to get hurt, or worse, mutated. And as if things couldn't get any worse, my father and the rest of the Olympians were coming to camp today to have a meeting with Chiron. I had a sneaking suspicion that I somehow knew what the meeting was about, but I wasn't so sure. Lady Hecate, although a goddess, tended to favor lieu Ellen a little more than she should. In other words, she believed that her daughter could do no wrong and she always tried to prevent anyone from bestowing any punishments on the 15-year-old.

As if to prove my point, all training ceased as everyone bowed to the gods and goddesses that had appeared at the boundaries. Well, everyone that is, except Lou Ellen. She, no doubt was torturing Grover for what seemed like the umpteenth time and I had to hand it to him; that kid could kick! Trust me; you don't want his hooves to kick you, they hurt! So when I saw the Hecate cabin counselor with hoof prints on her arms and legs, I grinned evilly at her to tell her that she deserved it. Before I could say anything however, Annabeth marched over, looking even angrier than I had ever seen her. Her gray eyes flashed dangerously as if she was saying, "say one word and I will kill you!" Although she did not say anything, I got the message loud and clear and backed up so that she could confront Lou Ellen herself. Before I did anything though, I quickly reached out and pulled Grover away so that he would not be harmed.

"Man," Grover complained, "what is that chick's problem? Percy, I swear I didn't do anything to her. Honest!"

I sighed heavily and answered gently, "I know you didn't, Grover. Don't listen to anything she says. Lou Ellen's just being an idiot for the sake of being an idiot. Come on let's go find out what's going on."

Meanwhile, the 18-year-old daughter of Athena and the 15-year-old Lou Ellen were really getting into it. I didn't see where they went, but something told me that they both went to the Hecate cabin, which I took as a very bad sign. My limbs tingled with the foreboding feeling I had been feeling for about a month now. The tension was so thick that it felt as though any one of us could cut it with a butter knife. I didn't like to see anyone in danger because personal loyalty is my fatal flaw, but this time it was more than that. Not only was my girlfriend in trouble, but everyone else was as well. I didn't like to admit it, but even I knew that I wouldn't be able to prevent what was going to happen.

In the Hecate cabin, Annabeth was arguing with Lou Ellen. "You have gone too far this time, Lou Ellen," she said angrily. "What has Grover done to you? For that matter, why do you always feel that you need to target someone for your own enjoyment? The little kids are terrified of you! I can't tell you how many times Percy and I have had to let them stay in our cabins because they were too afraid to go back to their own cabins alone."

Lou Ellen shrugged moodily. "What's the big deal?" She grumbled. "I was just having a little fun, that's all."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Really? You expect me to believe that? You can't be serious! And if you are, then explain to me why you feel that torturing the younger campers and Grover is acceptable behavior. Your mother might let you get away with it, but I won't. As a camp leader, I can not allow you to harm any of the campers or staff in any way. Is that understood?"

But Lou Ellen wasn't listening. She was rummaging around in her supply of magic items. When she eventually found what she was looking for, there was a triumphant gleam in her eyes that looked almost evil in the dim torchlight. Before I go any further, let me explain what the Hecate cabin looks like. Hecate, being the goddess of magic, lived in the underworld as well as Uncle Hades and his wife, Queen Persephone. For this reason, the Hecate cabin always looked dark and was lit mostly by torchlight. It wasn't very appealing looking, but it didn't matter to me, since I wasn't her child anyway. Anyway, when Annabeth saw the bottle that Lou Ellen was holding, she tried to back away, only to trip over her own feet and fall backward. When Annabeth fell over, several things happened at once. When she put her hands out in front of her to protect herself, the little bottle went flying out of Lou Ellen's hand and crashed onto the floor. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, all of the tables that held bottles of potion broke and all of the potions engulfed my girlfriend in a cloud of seemingly poisonous gas.

Nico, Thalia, and I were having an informal counselors meeting while catching up with our parents. It was during this meeting that all three of us plus my dad, Athena, and some of the other gods heard a tremendous explosion. I had been about to ask my dad about my little brother Tyson and how he was doing, when suddenly, booooooom! Everything in the big house shook and the windows rattled! Even some of the Olympians looked nervous enough to stop talking. After about five minutes, someone, maybe it was Ares asked gruffly, "what the Hades was that?" The other Olympians shrugged their shoulders in reply.

However, it was Nico who spoke up somewhat irritably I might add. "If you don't mind; please leave my father out of this!" The God of war glared at the son of Hades fiercely, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

As if on cue, we all heard another sound. The sound was alien to everyone here at camp because normally we don't have any campers younger than five. But this definitely sounded very much like an infant or toddler. Whoever it was was crying and sounded extremely frightened. "You have got to be kidding me!" I thought. "Please tell me that this is all just a bad dream! Please don't let it be real." But of course, nothing was ever normal with my life. And as I looked out the window, I realized that the cloud of smoke was coming from the Hecate cabin and that Annabeth was nowhere in sight. I jumped up and sprinted out of the house; followed closely by my cousins and all of the Olympians. "Somehow I knew this would happen!" I thought furiously. "Lou Ellen's going to get it when I get my hands on her! Nobody messes with my girlfriend!"

The crying grew louder as we came closer and it was then that Athena and my dad looked at each other as if to say, "what the heck?" After a while, my dad asked Athena, "hey, is that who I think it is?"

Athena just rolled her eyes, but answered, "I don't know fish brain."

My dad had been about to retort, but I cut him off. "Sorry to interrupt your argument, but look down," I told them. They both did as I said and were astonished at what they saw. What they saw was a little girl of about eight months old with the same blond hair and stormy gray eyes that Annabeth had. The toddler was crying and she looked scared out of her mind, not to mention mad! As I reached down to pick her up, Annabeth began glaring at me the way she used to before I really knew her. Yeah, like it was my fault that she got turned into an infant.

But, she eventually allowed me to lift her into my arms and as we walked back to the big house, my dad asked, "how in the world did this happen? I knew that things were getting bad around here, but I had no idea what was really going on until we heard that big explosion."

Athena looked murderous, but somehow she knew that this particular accident was not my fault. She spoke to me quite calmly in fact and said, "I would also like to know this as well."

"Well, it's kind of complicated, but I do know that the children of Hecate had something to do with it. In fact, that's why Chiron had asked you here in the first place," I answered. "We were hoping that something could be done about Lou Ellen, who is the head counselor for that cabin."

My dad smiled and answered, "I am aware of the situation and we can talk about that in a little while. Right now, this little girl needs to be taken care of and I don't know of anyone who can, except for Chiron, and he is busy."

Athena smiled in agreement. "Agreed," she said softly. "Percy, I know that your dad and I don't always get along, but for the sake of my daughter, would you be willing to help take care of her until she returns to her proper age? I know this is a lot to ask, but I've known for a while now that she has loved you and this might be her chance to be loved as she should've been a long time ago. Could you do this for me?"

I smiled and answered, "for your daughter, I would do anything." And then to my surprise, the eight-month-old I had carried to the big house had stopped crying and fell asleep with her tiny blond head against my shoulder. Without another word, my dad, Athena, and I entered the big house and resumed our meeting as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that my girlfriend was clinging to my T-shirt as if it was her lifeline.


	3. Old Fears Awakened

Hello my dear readers. I only have three reviews, which is good, but I would really love your input on how I am doing with my third story. If any of you have any ideas, let me know in either a private message or a review. Now that that's out of the way... disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or any of its characters.

Chapter 3:

Old Fears Awakened

Since my girlfriend was in the form of an eight-month-old child, and fast asleep on my shoulder, it never occurred to me that she had lost some skills after her transformation. So, when I felt something cold and wet soaking into my orange T-shirt, I noticed that my dad and Lady Athena were giving me amused looks and knowing smirks. When I looked at my dad, he suddenly burst out laughing at my soaking wet shirt. Lady Athena wasn't faring much better. She was trying desperately not to laugh, but I could see that her face was turning red from the effort. Everyone else was looking at me in either an amused or disgusted way and I was clueless as to why. Annabeth was right. I really was a seaweed brain at times. "Okay, two questions," I said as calmly as I could. "Why is my shirt soaking wet? And Dad, why are you laughing at me? For that matter, why is everybody staring at me like I'm from outer space?"

My dad bit his lip to keep himself from laughing as he said, "Percy, you might want to wash that shirt as soon as possible."

"What do you mean?" I asked. But then it suddenly hit me. When I looked down at Annabeth, I realized that the cold and wet sensation I had been feeling was her peing all over me!

"Percy you idiot," I chastised myself, "how could you not remember the most important piece of equipment when dealing with babies! You should've learned this in your health and home economics classes!" I smacked my Palm against my forehead and cried, "how could I have been so stupid? It never occurred to me that Anna would lose her toilet training skills!" And then when she started crying for a second time, I realized that she was also soaking wet, and boy did she look mad! None of us could help it. Even I started laughing because the whole ordeal was ridiculous! Noticing my girlfriend's upset look on her face, I tried to soothe her as best I could. "Oh, it's okay little one," I murmured softly. "We'll get you cleaned up as soon as possible."

Lady Athena, for the sake of her daughter, finally took pity on me and did something that I was forever grateful to her for. She not only cleaned up my shirt, but she also transformed her daughter's clothing into an onesie and thank the gods for this, a diaper. She then told me that Malcolm would be the head counselor for the Athena cabin until her daughter returned to her proper age. She and my father both told me that because Annabeth was so young and needed me and the other campers to care for her, that it would be no problem with them if she stayed in cabin three since I was usually the only camper in that cabin. "How will I know if she needs to be fed versus a diaper change and stuff like that?" I asked my father and the goddess of wisdom. "How will I know what to do if she gets sick or scared or anything? I've had practice in high school on electronic models, but I have never dealt with a real infant."

Little Anna's mom smiled at me and answered, "if you know her as well as I think you do, I think you will be fine. But let me give you this one piece of advice. Nobody is perfect, not even parents. I want you, Percy Jackson, to take care of my daughter as best you can and love her with all of your heart. If you do that, only then will you truly understand what to do."

And then my dad came over to me and said, "I have alerted Hecate of the situation with her daughter and how Annabeth tried to stop it, only succeeding in turning back her age several years. I don't know what Lady Hecate is planning to do, but don't count on her helping you. And watch out for Lou Ellen; she's a tricky one."

For the first time all day, I smiled genuinely. "Thanks for the warning," I said. "I will do my best, but it's not going to be easy because I have training to do and classes to teach."

"No it's not going to be easy," my dad agreed, "but just understand this. I and the rest of the Olympians are always watching over you. If you know that, you are never truly alone. Good luck, my son." Then there was a blinding flash and all of the Olympian counsel had gone back to Olympus to argue about who knows what.

Meanwhile, my two cousins, Nico and Thalia were smirking at me as I expertly picked up Annabeth and turned to leave the meeting room. Before I left though, I glared playfully at my cousins and said, "say one word and you will get the tickle monster; got it?" As I left the big house I noticed that all the other campers were training as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Unfortunately for me though, Annabeth was still uncomfortable. Although she was now wearing an onesie and a diaper, I suspected that the diaper was wet; especially because Annabeth was squirming around trying to get comfortable. The look on her face clearly told me how scared she was and I didn't blame her one bit! She was scared because she had no idea how long she would be like this, and quite frankly, neither did I. Annabeth was whimpering softly and I did my best to soothe her. Don't cry, baby girl," I whispered gently. "It's okay, you're okay. No one will hurt you; hush now."

I must have gotten a lot of strange looks from the rest of the campers, but I didn't care. Annabeth needed me and I couldn't allow anyone to harm her. Clarisse had been about to say something completely ridiculous and off-the-wall, but I gave her my famous death glare and she turned around and continued to train. When I reached the Poseidon cabin, I was greeted with a surprise. I still had my normal bed, but beside it was a crib for Annabeth, some stuffed animals and other toys for her to play with, and a changing table already stocked with extra baby clothes, diapers, wipes, and other stuff that Annabeth would need now that she was eight months old. And when I looked in the refrigerator of the small area that served as a makeshift kitchen, I found some teething rings and small ice cubes to rub on Annabeth's gums whenever they would hurt her. I also found baby bottles of milk and jars of baby food for her to eat whenever she got hungry. "Well Annabeth," I thought to myself, "you were my girlfriend, now, I guess you are going to be my surrogate daughter for a few weeks or more."

As I suspected, Annabeth wouldn't answer. Instead, she gurgled happily and looked up at me with her beautiful gray eyes. Although she had lost the ability to speak, I somehow understood that Annabeth was willing to trust me even though I was a seaweed brain at times. Noticing her discomfort, I did the only thing that seemed logical at the time. I couldn't remember too much about my home economics class, but I had enough knowledge left over from that time to remember how to change a diaper. This however was not my favorite part, so I did it quickly and surprisingly, correctly. I don't know how I did it, but it was like someone from above was guiding me and telling me how to do it.

Once Annabeth had been cleaned up and settled, I went over to the Athena cabin to talk to Malcolm, Annabeth's half brother. I let him know what was going on and I asked him to keep an eye out for anybody whom might be causing trouble. Malcolm understood all too well what was going on because Athena had talked to him earlier and let him know that until further notice he was the head counselor for the Athena cabin. "Percy, don't worry," he told me reassuringly. "Mom told me what was going on and if you need me to, I will help you take care of my half-sister if I have time. And just to let you know; Lou Ellen is out for blood."

I smiled at Malcolm and replied, "you know what? I could care less what Lou Ellen wants... She is a spoiled brat as far as I'm concerned."

Malcolm laughed. "I hear you, man," he answered. "I hear you." And then he added, "someone needs to give the Hecate counselor a slap across the face. Either that, or give her an attitude adjustment."

I knew that Malcolm was being serious, but I couldn't help but laugh at the way he said it. "Yeah I know what you mean," I agreed. "Someone needs to teach that girl a lesson."

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	4. Lou Ellen's Big Mistake

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or any of its characters.

Chapter 4:

Lou Ellen's Big Mistake

It had been three days since Annabeth had her accident in the Hecate cabin and she still hadn't returned to normal. I was slowly getting into a routine with taking care of her. Let me tell you; it was not easy to think of Annabeth as an eight-month-old infant because I still saw her as my 18-year-old girlfriend. But nevertheless, I loved her all the same. What nearly gave me a heart attack though was what happened later that afternoon.

Clarisse and I were training together while Annabeth was being watched by her half siblings. Well, at least I thought that was the case. However, something distracted me from my training and it somehow gave me the chills. Clarisse took this chance to pull my sword from my grasp; declaring herself the winner of our fight. When she noticed that I didn't even bother to snatch it back from her, she looked at me with a slightly confused frown on her face. "What's wrong barnacle brain?" Clarisse asked me gruffly. "You look like you're far away."

Clarisse and I were friends, but if anyone was to ask, Clarisse would tell them that we were both friends and enemies at the same time. We were enemies because when I was 12, she had tried to force my head into a toilet. But we were also friends because although she acted tough at times, Clarisse hated to see anyone hurt and I respected her for that. Anyway, she noticed that I was distracted and she looked in the direction I had been staring at for some time. I didn't know why, but Lou Ellen was walking around in the woods; probably planning something evil and destructive. But what I hadn't expected was to see a small, blond haired, gray eyed baby crawling after her. I closed my eyes and silently prayed to my father and Athena and hoped to the rest of the gods that I wasn't seeing what I was seeing. "Please don't let that be Annabeth's dagger in Llewellyn's hand," I mumbled to myself. "Please don't!" But I knew that my wishing had been in vain. I found myself rooted to the spot as I watched Annabeth's dagger fly through the air and I could do nothing as a terrified wail of an infant split the air like a gunshot. "I'm going to kill her!" I muttered under my breath. "Nobody messes with my girlfriend, I mean my daughter!"

It was then in that moment that I finally realized that I loved Annabeth just as much as a parent would. I don't know when I began to refer to her as my daughter, but let me tell you something. When I did, I knew then that Annabeth meant more to me than anything or anyone else in the whole world. Athena had entrusted me with the job of caring for her daughter, and I was going to do it right. I hadn't realized I had been speaking aloud until Clarisse grabbed my arm and spun me around so that I was facing her. "Percy, what's going on?" She demanded. "And where is Little Miss Princess?"

But instead of answering, I pulled Clarisse a long as I ran toward Llewellyn. "Come on," I said. "I have a cabin counselor to chew out and you're going to help."

Clarisse looked surprised. "What?" She asked. "Why?"

"There's no time to explain," I answered. "Come on let's go! Now!" Clarisse tried to fight me off and was protesting the whole time, but I didn't care. My baby girl was in danger and Llewellyn was definitely going to get it!

When I got there, poor little Annabeth was screaming in terror and pain. She no longer had the ability to understand that her dagger was an extremely dangerous tool, especially for her. She also no longer had the ability to use it correctly, and so, she was grasping it point first, which was the reason for her pain. I could see little droplets of blood on Annabeth's Palm and tears were streaming down her cheeks. Clarisse stood by and watched as I sprinted over to the baby and snatched the dagger out of her hand and put it in my pocket. I then glared angrily at the 15-year-old Llewellyn who was smirking at me in a way I did not like. But I was determined not to be the clueless idiot that everyone thought I was. I was not going to allow Llewellyn to torture anyone if I could help it. "Llewellyn!" I shouted angrily. "What do you think you were doing? And don't give me that innocent, oh, I was just having fun. Because believe me young lady; I quite frankly do not care what your excuses are. Now, why did you give Annabeth her dagger when you knew how young she was? Do you know how dangerous that was? She could have gotten really hurt; or worse, killed! Well, do you?" And to my surprise, Llewellyn nodded her head and she grinned evilly at me. So, without further hesitation, I motioned for Clarisse to manually drag the Hecate cabin counselor to the big house, which she did gladly.

So, as Llewellyn was being manhandled by the head counselor of the Ares cabin, I focused my full attention on Annabeth. I could see that she was still bleeding and the poor little thing looked utterly miserable. I picked up the eight-month-old and began to examine the cuts on her palm. I didn't have any nectar or ambrosia, but lucky for me, I was standing right by the creek. I did my best not to crush poor Annabeth as I knelt down and dipped her hand in the water. Since the baby was in my arms, I was able to use my powers over water to heal her wounds. My poor Annabeth was still crying and I could tell that she was scared out of her mind. So, when I stood back up, I rocked her back and forth as I whispered nonsense words into her ear. "Oh my little Annabeth, don't you fret," I sang softly. "Mama's going to buy you a cat for a pet." So after explaining the whole situation to the old centaur, I asked him if it would be best if Annabeth and I went to my mom's apartment for the weekend. "It's just until this whole craziness with the Hecate cabin dies down," I assured him. "I'll be back when things are a little quieter."

Chiron smiled at me and answered, "yes, I suppose you're right. Given the circumstances, I think you are very smart to not leave Miss Chase's side. I am only sorry that this happened in such a bizarre way. I do want to tell you though that you are being remarkably calm about this whole ordeal and I'm very proud of you."

I smiled at my old mentor. He always made me feel better sometimes even without trying to. He knew of my situation of course and helped as best he could. But even he had to admit that the kind of accident that happened earlier was an unusual one; even for the children of Hecate. So, after an extremely long week of training, feeding bottles of milk and baby food to an eight-month-old, and changing wet and messy diapers in the middle of the night, the weekend was finally here! All of my friends waved to me as I carried Annabeth and her supplies out of the protective borders of the camp, I saw Argus waiting by the white van. I never thought about bringing a car seat, but lucky for me her mother thought of everything. So after I strapped Annabeth into her car seat, I got into the front passenger seat and we were heading into the city. During the whole van ride, I kept worrying about my mom's reaction to Annabeth when she would see her.

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	5. Percy's epifany

I apologize that it took so long, but I was having problems with my account. Anyway, here is the next chapter. Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Chapter 5:

Percy's Epiphany

During the whole car ride, we never stopped unless I needed to eat or take care of Annabeth. During that time, I started remembering what she had told me about her dad when we were 12. At that time, Annabeth was having a tough time with her dad because she felt that he didn't accept her for who she truly was. I remembered the heart broken and sad expression she had on her face when she told me about him. I also remembered the time she became paralyzed with fear when a bunch of mechanical spiders came after us on the tunnel of love ride in the abandoned water land amusement Park. More importantly though, was the fact that aside from me and her camp friends, Annabeth basically had nobody to love her as she should've been long ago.

As I sat in the front passenger seat of the van thinking about all of these things, a realization came to me. I suddenly realized that Annabeth's mom had asked me to take care of her daughter because, not only did she feel guilty for thinking and believing that her father would love her, but didn't; she was also wise enough to realize her mistake. And even though I was the son of her rival, she knew that I would be able to provide the love necessary for her daughter to heal her wounds and learn how to trust again. As I realized this, I began to feel extremely sad; not because Annabeth was stoic and mistrustful sometimes, but because in a strange way, I completely understood how she must have felt. However, I had a loving mother, which was slightly different from what Annabeth had in the past, but I did understand what it was like because for most of my early life, my mother had been putting up with my former stepfather, Gabe. He never loved me or my mom, but my mom put up with him to protect me. So I guess it doesn't really matter anymore.

We were about half an hour away from my mom's apartment building when Argus pulled over to the side of the road so that I could check on Annabeth. She was asleep, but something about the look on her face troubled me a lot. She looked fearful and her eyes were moist as if whatever she had been dreaming about was making her scared and sad. I thought at first that Annabeth was having the typical nightmares that little kids had, but something told me that this was completely different. She was not crying out, but I could see the tears trickling down her cheeks and a genuine fear in her eyes. Only later did I understand that Annabeth had been dreaming about her time in ancient Rome when she had to rescue the statue of her mom from the clutches of a mortal woman who had been turned into a spider a long time ago. I had not been there for her because that particular quest was something she had to do alone and I knew how terrified she had been of spiders in the past. I don't know if this is true or not, but I do believe that Annabeth's 18-year-old mind is there, but it is being masked by her infantile behavior.

I took my thumb and gently wiped away the tears that were falling down her cheeks and I lifted the baby out of her car seat and did nothing but hold her. Annabeth clung to my T-shirt with her tiny hand. I once again felt a wet sensation soaking into my shirt, but this time I knew that the wet sensation was caused by her tears. I could do nothing but hug the child as she cried into my T-shirt and I let her do it because I knew that she needed to. I tried to feed her, but Annabeth wasn't hungry, so I just sat there and held the eight-month-old until she was able to calm down. "It's okay, baby girl," I whispered softly to her. "No one will ever hurt you. I'll make sure that they don't. I love you, baby girl. Don't you ever forget it!" And after giving her one of her teething rings, I strapped her back into her car seat and climbed back into the passenger seat. After that, things were pretty uneventful until I got to my mom's apartment.

Now, my mom is usually pretty open-minded because of the fact that I am a demigod, but when her eyes fell on the baby in my arms, my mom immediately jumped to conclusions. Saying that she was shocked was an understatement. She was glad to see me and all, but her face turned white as a sheet when her eyes landed on Annabeth. She wasn't angry, but she was scared. "Percy, what... what... what happened?" She finally managed to ask me. "Where's Annabeth?"

"Mom, I... I can explain," I answered her calmly.

"Can you?" She demanded. "Can you explain to me why you have an eight-month-old child in your arms and why she looks exactly like your friend Annabeth? I would have expected better of you! Don't you realize how serious this is?"

Then it suddenly dawned on me how bad it looked. My mom had jumped to the wrong conclusion because she knew that Annabeth and I were boyfriend and girlfriend and that we loved each other. She just didn't know the whole story just yet. "Oh my gods!" I thought to myself, "my mom actually thinks that Annabeth and I did something, well, naughty!" Then I looked my mom straight in her I and said as calmly as I could, "mom," I began hesitantly. "I know it looks bad, but you have to listen to me. Before you say anything, just hear me out." My mom's face relaxed a little, so I knew she was at least willing to listen. "Mom, the baby you are looking at... well, it's kind of hard to say this, but this is Annabeth. Something happened at camp and she somehow got turned into an eight-month-old infant. I was having a meeting with Dad and some of the other counselors when I heard a big explosion. Dad and I went to one of the cabins where I found her crying her eyes out. Mom, I know this is crazy, but it's true. I only came home because there is a lot of craziness going on at camp and I thought it would be best to stay here for the weekend and take care of her until she gets back to normal. Do you believe me, Mom? You know me. I would never do anything stupid like that." It took a while, but my mom finally relented and allowed me to come in to the apartment.

"I just have one question, Percy," she said. "Why is it that whenever something dangerous or strange happens, you always end up in the middle of it somehow?"

This time, I actually laughed. "Mom, I have been asking myself the same question for six years," I answered. "You're not alone."

Later that night, I heard little Annabeth whimpering in her sleep, so I got out of my bed to check on her. The same fearful look was in her eyes that had been in her eyes earlier that day. I held out a finger and she immediately grasped it tightly in her fist. I winced a little, but I didn't care. "Oh my little Annabeth," I whispered gently. "I wish I knew what was upsetting you so much. What's wrong, baby girl? What's wrong? Percy's here. It's all right; I'm here." And then to my shock, Annabeth started to do some full-blown screaming that was loud enough to wake the dead. I was so surprised that I dropped her hand. "Wow! You've got lungs little girl," I thought to myself as I searched around to find what could be causing Annabeth to be so scared. I didn't see anything at first, but as I searched, I finally saw it. It was the size of a thumbnail, but it was clearly a spider and it had been following us all the way to my apartment. How it got in the house; I had no idea. So, I quickly went to the bathroom to grab some paper towels so that I could kill it. Killing spiders for Annabeth was nothing. I used to do it for her all the time when she was still 18, so it didn't really matter. After throwing it away and washing my hands, I gently picked Annabeth up and kissed her on the forehead. "It is gone, my child," I whispered softly. "Go to sleep my child; everything will be all right."

Meanwhile, Chiron was having an extremely serious talk with Lou Ellen about what had happened a few days ago. To everyone's surprise, the 15-year-old actually felt guilty for what it happened. Quite frankly, I was glad she did feel that way. Whether she meant to or not, she could have killed Annabeth or Grover, or anyone of us for that matter. But it wasn't until Chiron had asked her why she did all those things that Lou Ellen suddenly broke down and cried bitterly. "I never meant to," she cried. "It's just that, I don't know any different. My dad never really pays attention to me, so I had to do something to get his attention."

Chiron turned around in his wheelchair to face the Hecate cabin counselor. He still looked stern, but his face softened a little when he saw the tears in her eyes. "So, you thought that pulling pranks, potentially dangerous pranks, was a smart way to get it? You know, Lou Ellen, you do understand that what you did was wrong, right? You do understand that you will have to be punished for what you have done?" The 15-year-old was crying so hard by this time that she could hardly see. She nodded her head and this is what Chiron told her. "For the next couple of weeks you will wash the lunch dishes with the cleaning harpies and you will also be on probation as cabin counselor until further notice. Do I make myself clear?" When the 15-year-old nodded her head, Chiron sent her back to the cabin and told her to get some rest.

As that was going on, I was extremely busy with feeding a bottle of formula to a very sleepy Annabeth, which was not easy at all. She had just woken up from her nap and I was trying to coax her to stay awake so that I could finish feeding her. Not only was she still sleepy, but the next thing I knew, she had spit up all over herself and me. She must've had gas and I didn't realize it because I completely forgot about the fact that it was harder for babies to rid their stomachs of air bubbles. So before I resumed feeding Annabeth, I changed her clothes as well as my own. "Man kiddo," I thought to myself. "You are a mess!"

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	6. The weekend

Authors note: this chapter will be in Sally's point of view. Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

Chapter 6:

Innocence

My 18-year-old son, Percy came home for the weekend, which I was very excited about. I hadn't seen him in a long time and Paul and I had really missed him; especially because he had no memory of who he really was for seven or eight months. I was extremely worried about him during that time, but there was nothing I could have done to change it. I had been angry with him about that the last time he called, but I had no clue that the Queen of the Olympians had removed some of his memories so that he could be a pawn in her stupid and dangerous game of getting both camps, Greek and Roman, to reunite. Only then did I realize that my anger was wrongly placed. However, it doesn't matter anymore. What matters now is that I have to play grandmother to my son's former girlfriend.

When Percy had come home carrying her in his arms I decided to mess with his head a little bit. I knew of course what was going on because Poseidon himself came and told me what the situation was earlier that week. But when Percy came home, I pretended that I didn't know anything and I pretended to be mad at him. As usual, I got the reaction I had been hoping for. Percy immediately got a shocked look on his face and turned beet red as I pretended to scold him. I knew that my son was extremely responsible; he's been that way from little on. As impulsive as he could be at times, I knew that Percy would never do anything that he wasn't comfortable with. Because I knew this, I decided to mess with him anyway. Of course, Percy didn't realize that I was joking with him until he raised his eyes to mine. When he saw the mischievous sparkle in my eyes, Percy finally laughed in relief. "Mom," he said in a teasing tone of his own, "don't ever do that again. I was really afraid that I would be in trouble."

I smiled and stepped out of the way to allow him to come in to the apartment. "Well, it works every time," I told him teasingly. And then I laughed and explained, "I am aware of the situation at hand. Your father came by earlier this week and told me what was going on. Feel free to stay here as long as you need to." And after giving me a hug, Percy immediately went upstairs to take care of the needs of his eight-month-old girlfriend.

Although my son was young, I knew just how much he cared for the baby in his arms. When he had taken that one health class during his junior year of high school, it never dawned on me just how much. Although he had been using an electronic version, Percy had cared for it as if it had been alive. He never once got frustrated or angry. He was quite the contrary. Percy was his gentle and loyal self; and by the time Monday had come around, I swear that Percy had tears in his eyes because he did not want to give the electronic baby back to his teacher. So, as I am sitting here typing away at my novel, I can't help but think that Percy was one day going to be a great father to any children that he might have. He was already showing it by the manner in which he was taking care of Annabeth. For that, I love him so much.

It wasn't until Sunday morning that I saw for myself just how careful Percy was being. Don't ask me why, but the two of them were watching Sunday morning cartoons and Percy was holding me eight-month-old as delicately as if she had been made of glass. After a while, she started to squirm as if she wanted to get down on the floor. So, instead of allowing Annabeth to go falling headfirst, Percy stood up, and gently set her down on the carpet. That was where she immediately began to roll around like she was a possessed ball. My guess was that Annabeth had been contained in her car seat for a long time and she just wanted to be free. The eight-month-old was laughing as she rolled around on the carpet as if she had been doing the funniest thing in the world. I stifled a laugh once or twice when I saw her doing this and I could tell that Percy was trying to do the same. In fact, Percy had to look away after a while because the sight of his girlfriend rolling around on the floor was making him dizzy. But just as Percy was contemplating on gently restraining her, Annabeth stopped her wild game, rolled onto her back, and looked at us innocently before starting to cry.

Before I could do anything, Percy had picked up the baby and was checking her over. After a while, he got a slightly disgusted look on his face, but I could tell that he was resigned to doing what he needed to do. So after letting out a resigned sigh, Percy headed upstairs to get the job over and done with. I laughed to myself as I heard what Percy was grumbling under his breath. "You just had to do that didn't you? You just had to wait until the show started?" But I also could tell that Percy didn't really mind having to change a messy diaper even if it grossed him out a little. I knew that he knew that it was just part of being a parent or guardian or whatever.

It was all too soon that Percy was packing his stuff and going back to camp with Annabeth. I was really going to miss him. I especially was going to miss teasing him about taking care of a baby at 18. But, that would have to wait until September because Percy had told me that he was planning on staying at home and going to NYU to take some writing courses. For now though, I had to be satisfied with everything that was happening right now.

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	7. Lessons Learned

Author's note: this chapter will be the last chapter for this story. But don't worry; I have another story in mind that I will be posting up here shortly. Thank you all very much for your reviews, follows, and favorites. Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

Chapter 7:

Lessons Learned

Back to Percy's point of view: the next few weeks were hectic because Annabeth still hadn't returned to her normal age and size yet. She was still having night terrors about spiders and I of course had to calm her down. But somehow I understood that Annabeth wasn't just scared of spiders anymore. The whole ordeal back in ancient Rome must've traumatized her more than I had originally realized. Who wouldn't be traumatized after falling into Tartarus and living to tell the tale?

Every night was the same. Annabeth thrashed around in her crib; tears coursing down her cheeks, and I of course always ended up changing her because she was usually soaked with sweat and other things I don't want to mention. Lou Ellen, after she finished her small punishment doing kitchen duty, finally came to me and apologized for what she had done unintentionally. I was surprised, but when she explained the situation she was having with her father, I completely understood how she must have felt. She must have felt alone and insecure to do something completely stupid and crazy. I forgave her and told her that she didn't have to feel that way anymore. I told her that if she needed to talk, she could always come and talk to me. Lou Ellen thanked me and told me to expect her potions to wear off some time that night.

If she hadn't warned me, I may not have noticed that the baby I held in my arms was slowly getting heavier and taller. But thankfully, I remembered the warning and I found myself staring into the startled gray eyes of my beautiful, 18-year-old girlfriend. Annabeth looked just as frightened as she had after her many night terrors, but when she opened her eyes, she saw that I had a hold of her hand. When she opened her eyes, I expected Annabeth to start crying, but instead she said, "Percy, what happened to me?"

When I heard my girlfriend actually talking to me, I couldn't help throwing my arms around her. "It's hard to explain," I answered gently, "but I will do what I can to explain it to you." So for the next half an hour, I explained to Annabeth, in the best way I knew how, that she had somehow been turned into a baby and I had to take care of her for a little over a month. I explained to her that while she was in this state, she had been having a lot of flashbacks about our time in Tartarus and also about her own solo quest of following the mark of Athena to the ancient immortal spider and the Athena statue that she had found.

Before long, Annabeth was crying on my shoulder and she looked as fragile as she felt. "P-Percy," she sobbed, "I was so... so... so..." I knew how shaken up Annabeth had been because I had been with her at the time. She couldn't even finish her sentence.

I hugged my girlfriend as she cried a river on my shoulder and I could say nothing to comfort her, except for a few words. "I know, baby girl," I said gently. "It's all right; you're safe now."

And then Annabeth did something totally unexpected. She threw herself at me and whispered quietly, "I love you, seaweed brain. You have been more than just my boyfriend. You have been nothing but kind, gentle, loyal, and brave. And if what you said is true, then you also have been more or less, more of a father than my own father ever was. For that, Percy Jackson, I thank you and I will love you forever."

And it was true. As Annabeth and I got older, we never forgot each other or the fact that I had taken care of her while she was out of commission. It was during that time that she and I had truly bonded. Her mother gave me the task of taking care of her because she realized that Frederick Chase had never wanted a daughter in the first place. She knew that Annabeth had been torn up by this fact of life and Athena wanted her to understand that she wasn't alone. She wanted her to realize that there would someday be an extremely important and special person in her life. And Annabeth somehow realized that her mother was right. Because I did nothing for Annabeth except love her unconditionally, which is what she needed the most. And it was the same love that she had for me that allowed Annabeth to face the world with a much more easy-going attitude. I would love to say that I took all the credit, but that just wasn't true. Annabeth needed a push in the right direction, and funnily enough, it was Lou Ellen who did it.

If it hadn't been for Lou Ellen's potions breaking all over Annabeth, Annabeth would still be the same cynical girl who tried to hide the fact that she had a shattered heart. By turning into an infant temporarily, Annabeth had been able to reclaim her innocence. By doing that, Annabeth also learned a very hard lesson. She learned that it was okay to feel scared and vulnerable as long as she was with the people she loved.


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